Judaica Librarianship

The Recovery of Nazi Looted Books in the UCLA Library: From Prague to Los Angeles and Back

Diane Mizrachi — 2023-01-08

This article details the search for books from the Jewish Religious Community Library in Prague that were looted by the Nazis, and how the institution’s curators are working today to rebuild their original collection. It traces the history of the Prague Library, the Nazis’ policies of confiscating Jewish books for their proposed institutes on the ‘Jewish Question,’ and how some of these confiscated books ended up in the UCLA Library. Librarians at UCLA did not find any professional guidelines for the repatriating looted material from academic libraries, even though the museum and art worlds have dealt with these issues for decades. We share processes we developed and our quest to publicize this issue as broadly as possible. We also discuss methods that European librarians are currently using research provenance. Ours is a singular case, and institutions must understand that each question of repatriation must be considered within its own particular context. We offer some models for addressing repatriation questions and call for an organized English language forum where Judaica librarians in academic libraries and archives everywhere can discuss these issues in order to promote broader understanding, collaboration, and actions.

A History of YIVO’s Prewar Archival Collections from 1925 to 2001

Stefanie Halpern — 2022-12-31

This article discusses YIVO's prewar collections, their looting and dispersion during the Holocaust, and the various subsequent efforts to recover them. The article includes a brief overview of YIVO's founding and prewar activities; a discussion of the Nazi looting of YIVO's materials during the Holocaust and the heroic efforts by Jews to save these materials during and after the war; YIVO's shift of its headquarters to New York City in 1939–1940; the US Government restitution of materials to YIVO in 1947; and efforts to reclaim additional materials from Lithuania from 1989 to 2001. The article closes with a brief note on YIVO's newly completed Vilna Collections Project to digitally reunite YIVO's pre-war materials in New York City with materials housed in three Lithuanian repositories.

The Baltimore Hebrew Institute Collection: A Jewish Studies Library Re-imaged

Elaine Mael — 2022-12-31

The Baltimore Hebrew University (BHU) was one of a handful of independent Jewish studies institutions in the United States during the twentieth century. Located in the heart of the Baltimore Jewish community, it grew from a small teachers’ college to a doctoral degree-granting university over the course of its many decades. Several factors, including shifting educational trends, pragmatic economic considerations, and societal expectations altered the academic landscape for this institution; dwindling enrollment forced the once-thriving school to consider options for re-location, re-organization, or closure. A little more than ten years ago, BHU’s programs, faculty, and library were incorporated into a large public university located in nearby Towson, Maryland. As part of this move, the extensive resources of the BHU library were integrated with the much larger library of Towson University (TU), and both collections are now housed in one multi-storied building in the middle of a busy urban university campus. This article addresses the phenomenon of merging two disparate library collections and focuses on both the positive and negative results of consolidating academic libraries of different sizes, content, and cultural heritage. The author was a former librarian at BHU and is currently a librarian at TU.

Jewish German Immigrant Booksellers in Twentieth-Century Ecuador

Irene Munster — 2022-12-31

When German Jews looked for a country to receive them in the late 1930s Ecuador had its doors open for immigration. This paper traces the story of four German Jewish refugees who landed in Ecuador and established bookstores and libraries in a country that knew little of either. Rescuing their lives from oblivion is a way to highlight their cultural contribution to their host country.

Two Articles by Ber Borokhov about Judaica Libraries and Librarians

Zachary M. Baker — 2022-12-31

Two translated articles published by Ber Borokhov (1881–1917) in the Yiddish newspaper Di varhayt (Warheit) in New York, in 1917. The translations are accompanied by an essay that recounts Borokhov's history, scholarship, and keen interst in Jewish libraries.

Workers’ Libraries in Interwar Poland: Selections Translated from a Yiddish Handbook

Jordan Finkin — 2022-12-31

Interwar Poland saw an explosion in the establishment of all kinds of libraries, notably workers' libraries, run by political or labor organizations for the edification and education of working people. In 1929, under the auspices of the Linke Poale Zion, I. Rauchfleisch and L. Weiss published their Handbook for Libraries. This 73-page book was desiged to provide anyone desiring to open such a library as much information as they needed, in clear language and adequate detail, to operate such an institution in line with modern library practices.

Who Owns Jewish Culture Heritage?

Arthur Kiron — 2022-12-31

It’s Raining Lemons! How the COVID-19 Pandemic Reshaped the Association of Jewish Libraries

Michelle Margolis — 2022-12-31

The COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, changing expectations and work around the globe. The pandemic forced the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) to expedite changes that had been moving along slowly, leading to a completely revamped organization. This article goes through some of the background leading up to COVID-19 and how AJL was already changing and continues to change to meet the needs of its members.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Toward a Celebration of Hebraica Catalogers

Roger Kohn — 2022-12-31

This article offers a chance to readers to know better the Hebraica catalogers who have been active in the United States and Canada, currently active, retired and deceased.

There are two parts in this article. First the author presents how the article came into being, the source the author used and the existing bibliography. Then the author presents the field of Hebraica and Judaica librarianship in the “longue durée.” The second part contains testimonies of Hebraica catalogers who accepted to contribute to this article.

Jewish Identity and American Acceptance: Welcoming a Firstborn Son in Two Classic Children's Books

Emily Schneider — 2022-12-31

Jewish-American-themed children’s fiction often includes descriptions of ritual observance. Yet, although ritual circumcision (brit milah, or bris) is a requirement in halacha (Jewish religious law) for all newborn males, this event is virtually absent from Jewish children’s books; the incorporation of a surgical procedure would create obvious narrative difficulties. Sydney Taylor and Sadie Rose Weilerstein, two of the most important twentieth century Jewish-American children’s authors, each wrote a series of books including a newborn son. Instead of a bris, they both included the less common, nonsurgical ritual of pidyon ha-ben. Thus, they eluded a problematic description, while informing readers about a lesser-known Jewish practice.

Provenance Research, Memory Culture, and the Futurity of Archives: Three Essential Resources for Researching the Nazi Past

Rachel Heuberger — 2022-12-31

The rising significance of Holocaust commemoration has advanced provenance research of Nazi-looted material Jewish heritage and has shown the urgent need for reliable resources in order to cope with the particular challenges of identifying Judaica objects. This review essay examines the theoretical foundations of provenance research in Germany and presents two indispensalbe resources that help with practical provenance research. The Lost Art Database, maintained by the Lost Art Foundation, documents cultural assets beeing illegaly confiscated by the Nazis. The Handbook on Judaica Provenance Research: Ceremonial Object, an open access electronic publication, funded by Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), provides detailed information to identify Jewish cultural objects. The theoretical framework of memory culture in Germany is explored in the book by Dora Osborne, What Remains: The Post-Holocaust Archive in German Memory Culture. In this oustanding analysis of the functions of archives in the process of coming to terms with the Nazi past, Osborne rightly emphasizes the archival turn in German memory culture and proves its importance.

Book Review: Caroline Jessen, Kanon im Exil: Lektüren deutsch-jüdischer Emigranten in Palästina/ Israel. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2019. 398 p. ISBN: 9783835333482. [German]

Renate Evers — 2022-12-31

Book Review: Jason Lustig, A Time to Gather: Archives and the Control of Jewish Culture. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. ix, 265 p. ISBN: 9780197563526

Amalia S. Levi — 2022-12-31

Book Review: Jason Lustig, A Time to Gather: Archives and the Control of Jewish Culture. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. ix, 265 p. ISBN: 9780197563526

Larissa Allwork — 2022-12-31

DH/JS: Mapping Jewish Studies

Michelle Margolis — 2022-12-31

Scatter of the Literature, March 2020–December 2022

Rachel Leket-Mor — 2022-12-31

Tribute to Heidi G. Lerner upon Her Retirement

Yermiyahu Ahron Taub — 2022-12-31

Vol. 22 Editor’s Note

Rachel Leket-Mor — 2023-01-02